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By Jason Heath, CFP on January 13, 2026
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

By Jason Heath, CFP on January 13, 2026
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Shareholder loans are often misunderstood by incorporated business owners. It is important to consider the tax implications.

An incorporated owner manager may end up owing money to their corporation or being owed money by their company. There are tax considerations in both cases. Here is an overview.

If you personally pay for expenses on behalf of your company, it owes you for these personally paid corporate expenses. You can be reimbursed tax-free.

If you deposit money to your corporation, the same situation applies—that is, you are owed money back tax-free. This situation can occur if you have to top up your corporate bank account or deposit money to be used for a real estate down payment for the company.

The rest of this summary will focus on situations where you owe money to your corporation.

Some business owners take withdrawals over the course of the year from their corporation without running them through payroll. At year-end, you can address this by declaring a bonus........

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